GCB polls followed due process

-Returning Officer

Attorney Sanjeev Datadin, Returning Officer at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) elections last Sunday, said yesterday the polls were legally held and followed due process.

He said that there was a quorum when the meeting was convened but he had no control over who voted or not. He maintained that voting was voluntary.

Berbice attended the AGM but had stated from the inception that they were not participating in the elections without the involvement of all three county boards. However, vice president of the BCB David Black departed from an executive decision not to participate in the GCB elections and he cast his vote along with the nine other delegates from the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB).

Datadin’s take on the issue comes after some cricket board officials had questioned the legality of the elections in light of the meeting not meeting the quorum of 14 of the 27 delegates from the three boards.

Questions were also raised since the GCB constitution says that no less than two county boards can constitute an election.
However, it was contended on Sunday by the newly- elected president Ramsey Ali that the members who left after the meeting “abstained from voting as far I am concerned”.

After Sunday’s meeting it was not clear whether the results of the elections would have been challenged but Stabroek Sport learnt yesterday that the BCB is currently seeking advice on whether the elections were legally constituted. However, Datadin emphasised that from a legal standpoint he does not see a lawyer winning in a case like this, especially since it was properly convened and there was a quorum.

In the lead up to the July 10 poll some members of the divided GCB had said that the elections should have been held off to facilitate a clearing up of the many issues that the factions were divided on. The major one was the allegations of financial improprieties.

When the Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) which another faction requested was not called, then Chairman of Senior Selections Committee Claude Raphael moved to the court to have the elections halted but his bid was thrown out by Justice James Bovell-Drakes on July 9. This decision by the court prompted former GCB vice-president and president of the embattled and temporarily defunct Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Bissoondial Singh to withdraw from the presidential race, stating that he did not want to be a part of the shenanigans of some of the executives of the GCB.

Meanwhile the president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Dr. Julian Hunte in a statement had said that he was informed of elections being held and the body was prepared to work with the new GCB executive.